Ideas for the weekend: ULTA

Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. operates as a retailer of prestige, mass and solon products in the united States. The company was founded in 1990, operates 346 stores in 36 states and has a market cap of $1.35 billion.

Shares of ULTA gapped open higher on March 11 after the company reported Q4 results that eclipsed expectations. Revenue for the quarter was up 16% from last year to $396.4 million. Earnings also came in strong at 34 cents, 13% ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company has surprised in each of the last four quarters by an average of 4 cents, or 53%.

Ulta gained in a couple of key categories, with operating income up 60% to $34 million and same-store sales up 6.2%. Free cash flow was $105 million.

Looking forward Ulta is ready to capitalize on its upward momentum, with plans to open 46 stores, remodel 13 and relocate 6 in 2010.

Estimates Jump
Estimates have been on the rise for the last few months, with the current year adding 15 cents to 85 cents. The next-year estimate is up 23 cents to $1.04, a solid 22% growth projection.

Netapp, Inc.

NetApp is seen riding a wave of growing corporate IT spending, including stronger demand for data storage products as companies embrace cloud computing which allows businesses to access computing power through a network instead of in-house data centers.

Companies are also embracing virtualization which enables them to tap disparate computer systems on their premises or in hosted data centers as one network and use that computing capacity based on needs.

NetApp reported fiscal fourth-quarter income of $145.1 million, or 40 cents a share, compared with a profit of $68.4 million, or 21 cents a share, for the year-earlier period. Revenue rose to $1.17 billion from $879.6 million. Adjusted income was 50 cents a share.

SXC Health Solutions

SXC Health Solutions

•The company logged some triple-digit earnings growth gains last year. Earnings growth has slowed in recent quarters, but at 34% last quarter it's still above the 25% minimum typically seen in winning growth stocks.

•Sales growth has accelerated during the past two quarters, which is a positive.

•For the full year, analysts see earnings rising just 8%, so that's something to factor in. And they predict earnings will rise 30% next year.

Market closes lower ahead of long weekend....

Stocks closed out their worst May since 1962 by sliding again on more unsettling news about Europe.

Closing numbers:

Dow -122.36
Nas -20.64
S&P - 13.65

What You Talkin' About Willis???

Gary Coleman, the child star of the TV sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, died Friday after suffering an intercranial hemorrhage. He was 42.  Utah Valley Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Janet Frank says life support was terminated and Coleman died at 12:05 p.m.  Coleman was hospitalized Wednesday after falling and suffering a head injury at his home south of Salt Lake City, according to family members.

Truly one of the classic TV characters of all time....

Fitch Downgrades Spain Debt....

This shouldn't be any real surprise, but the Dow sold off over 100 points in 5 minutes as this news hit the wire.  Traders are really whipping this market around.  There is no conviction, it seems...so it's probably best at this point to ignore it and just go home for the weekend.

At 1:15 pm:

Dow -99
Nas -24
S&P -11

Time Warner (TWX) needs to be more aggressive...

The WSJ’s Heard on the Street thinks that Time Warner needs to be more aggressive in packaging its digital entertainment; for example – creating a subscription only model for HBO in order to compete with NFLX.

Rough Hurrican Season Forecast....

US warns of worst hurricane season since 2005 – The Atlantic storm season could be the most intense since 2005 when Hurricane Katrina killer over 1,000 people and disrupted oil production in the Gulf, according to the NOAA. The NOAA is forecasting 14-23 named storms, of which 8-14 could develop into hurricanes, close to 2005’s record of 15.

Does this include all the Oil spilling into the Gulf???

OPEC crude-oil output rose to a 17 month high in May according to a Bloomberg survey. Production rose 187K barrels.

Dow on Pace for Worst May in 48 years....

Dow on pace for worst May since 1962


May action:
 
DJIA -6.80%
SP500 -7.10%
Nas -7.46%,

Latest numbers show outflows out of equity funds...

Fund Flows - US equity funds (including ETFs) saw sharp outflows again this week of -$13.7b, the second consecutive week of large outflows. The large outflows over the past two weeks totaling -$21.2b have wiped out most of the inflows over the prior 13 weeks; Excluding the impact of ETFs, the outflows were still significant at -$4.2b

After an Hour of Trading.....

Dow -33.79
Nas -4.38
S&P -2.84

Gainers:

NFLX +4.15 to $113
AAPL +4.64 to $259
JCG + 2.13 to $46
SXCI + 1.32 to $74
ULTA +1.16 to $25.75

Sweatshop has a Heart Afterall....

Faced with an escalating management crisis following a spate of worker suicides, iPhone maker Foxconn Technology Group will increase employees' wages at its China operations by 20%, according to media reports Friday.

Commodity Stocks Downgraded...

• AK Steel (AKS) price target cut to $17 from $22; rating hold at Deutsche Bank

• Monsanto Co. (MON) price target cut to $60 from $82; rating buy at Deutsche Bank

• Nucor Corp. (NUE) price target cut to $50 from $53; rating buy at Deutsche Bank

• United States Steel Corp. (X) price target cut to $65 from $85; rating buy at Deutsche Bank

J Crew Beats and Raises...

J Crew Group Inc. (JCG). The apparel retailer posted a first-quarter profit on Thursday that topped Wall Street estimates and raised its full-year outlook. The company boosted its full-year earnings forecast to $2.35 to $2.45 per share from $2.20 to $2.30 per share previously.

CVS Overcharging for Prescriptions...

CVS Caremark Corp. (CVS). The company has been charging some customers of its SilverScript Medicare prescription-drug programs higher prices than they were promised when they signed up for the plans in late 2009, the WSJ reported on Thursday.

Apple Launches IPad overseas...

Apple Inc. (AAPL). The company’s iPad launched in overseas store shelves on Friday, with buyers storming Japanese and Australian shops to be among the first outside the United States to snap up the long awaited tablet PC.